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rights of standby members


bobby101

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Our Club's by-laws identify 4 classes of membership: Senior, Junior, Standby, and Honorary. Only our Senior members have complete playing and voting rights and our Juniors are somewhat restricted in their playing privileges. My question deals with Standby members. Since they do not pay full membership dues (only a token Standby fee, $50, which is about 14% of full Senior membership dues and which protects their membership status and gives them the right to rejoin immediately if their standby status changes) and are specifically prohibited from voting, per our by-laws, what rights do they have? May they attend our Annual Membership meeting-- I see no problem with that--but do they the right to speak at such meetings? bobby101

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What exactly do your bylaws say about the rights of standby members?   If the only restriction is on voting, I believe most of this on this forum are of the opinion that all other rights of membership are unaffected.  If that's the case, they can do everything a regular or "senior" member can do except vote.  Your bylaw provisions on all of the classes of membership may have to be read together to figure out just what rights standby members have.

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Mr. Brown: The by-laws don't address the rights of Standby members except that they can come right back into the Club on payment of the regular dues. The by-laws state only that they cannot play (except as any other guest can, by paying a $10 guest fee, limited to 5 times) and they cannot vote. I believe that these restrictions are because the Standby members haven't paid the full dues that other Senior members pay. Here are our 4 classes of membership and their rights/limitations per our by-laws: Senior members have all playing and voting rights; Juniors cannot vote and there are certain limitations on their playing rights-this has never been a problem; Honorary  members cannot vote or hold office but have the same playing rights as other Senior members; Standby members cannot vote and their  right to play is limited, as noted above. My feeling about the Standbys not having the right to vote (this was in force long before I joined the Club) as stated above, is that if you're not a full member, that is you've haven't paid the full Senior membership dues, you shouldn't have the right to vote. However, my question deals with their right to attend the Annual membership meeting ( I don't think that's a problem) and their right to speak there. Looking for your view. Thank you, bobby101

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Mr. Brown: The by-laws don't address the rights of Standby members except that they can come right back into the Club on payment of the regular dues. The by-laws state only that they cannot play (except as any other guest can, by paying a $10 guest fee, limited to 5 times) and they cannot vote. I believe that these restrictions are because the Standby members haven't paid the full dues that other Senior members pay. Here are our 4 classes of membership and their rights/limitations per our by-laws: Senior members have all playing and voting rights; Juniors cannot vote and there are certain limitations on their playing rights-this has never been a problem; Honorary  members cannot vote or hold office but have the same playing rights as other Senior members; Standby members cannot vote and their  right to play is limited, as noted above. My feeling about the Standbys not having the right to vote (this was in force long before I joined the Club) as stated above, is that if you're not a full member, that is you've haven't paid the full Senior membership dues, you shouldn't have the right to vote. However, my question deals with their right to attend the Annual membership meeting ( I don't think that's a problem) and their right to speak there. Looking for your view. Thank you, bobby101

So far as RONR is concerned, all members have all of the rights of membership, and non-members have none of the rights of membership. If an organization starts monkeying around with that, then it will be up to the organization to interpret its own rules. With four different categories of membership, each with their own rights, I think this will require a careful review of the organization's bylaws. See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 588-591 for some Principles of Interpretation.

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Gentlemen:  I'm going to start over by  quoting our by-laws exactly and what they say about the various classes of membership we have. Then go directly to one of these classes  (Standby).  The question I'm raising involves your view/interpretation , based on our by-laws, RONR, and your practical experience as to whether a Standby member has the right to attend and speak at our Annual Membership meeting; it's clear he/she has no right to vote. I'm not advocating one way or another, just interested in your opinion(s) on this question. One other point I'll make is that we are a tennis club and the classes of membership we've established do make sense for us and have worked out well. Now the the specific section of our by-laws and the exact wording: " A Standby Membership can be requested by any member who is temporarily unable to play because of (1) Medical problems (2) Moving out of the local area and/or (3) Working out of the local area. Standby members have no playing or voting privileges. Membership in this category is limited to two consecutive years unless extended by the Board at its discretion. Standby members can return to one of the regular membership categories upon payment of the regular dues."   This category was established when we had a full membership contingent and between 75 and 125 applicants on our waiting list. It was designed to protect the members' rights to rejoin the Club immediately once their Standby status was over. I don't know whether this will clarify the situation but these are the facts. Thank you.

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All members have the right to speak at meetings unless it can be demonstrated that they don't.

 

And they can't speak at a meeting unless they are AT the meeting, which means we think they have the right to attend.

 

I agree with Mr. Guest's interpretation and I think I said as much in the very first response in this thread.... post # 2.  I don't think anyone has disagreed.  But, in the end, since they are your bylaws and this is not a provision in RONR, it is up to your organization to interpret its own bylaws.  We cannot  do that for you.  We can just tell you how we, individually, view it.

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